Inflammation is a protective response of cells to pathogens, infection or tissue damage. It involves the coordinated communication of different immune cells and blood vessels through an intricate cascade of molecular signals. Inflammation can cause fever, cardiovascular pathology, allergy anaphylaxis, fibrosis, autoimmunity, etc. The inflammatory response has four phases: inflammatory inducers (infection or tissue damage), inflammatory sensors (mast cells and macrophages), inflammatory mediators (cytokines, chemokines, etc.) and the tissues that are affected. Each phase has many options that are triggered based on the type pathogen introduced. In addition, chronic inflammatory conditions, where an inducer is not well defined, are becoming more common. These conditions are of particular interest because they coincide with other diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. [Source](http://www.thermofisher.com/ls/en/home/life-science/cell-analysis/signaling-pathways/inflammatory-response-pathway.html) Proteins on this pathway have targeted assays available via the [CPTAC Assay Portal](https://assays.cancer.gov/available_assays?wp_id=WP453) ecb a7b epithelial cell CL:0000066 Cell Type fibroblast CL:0000057 Cell Type inflammatory response pathway PW:0000024 Pathway Ontology 9378992 PubMed Attenuation of IL-5-mediated signal transduction, eosinophil survival, and inflammatory mediator release by a soluble human IL-5 receptor. J Immunol 1997 Monahan J Siegel N Keith R Caparon M Christine L Compton R Cusik S Hirsch J Huynh M Devine C Polazzi J Rangwala S Tsai B Portanova J 19028820 PubMed Polymorphisms in inflammatory genes and the risk of ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack: results of a multilocus genotyping assay. Clin Chem 2009 Greisenegger S Zehetmayer S Bauer P Endler G Ferrari J Lang W Janisiw M Steiner L Cheng S Lalouschek W Mannhalter C CD4-positive helper T cell CL:0000492 Cell Type B cell CL:0000236 Cell Type